Saturday, January 10, 2009

Dreaming of over there, dreaming of home

Funny thing about dreaming is that it's hard to control. Whenever I'm gone, I dream of home, and then vice versa.

All through the last deployment,  I dreamt of home most nights. I would dream of loved ones, friends, driving a car, eating at a restaurant, watching movies, playing scrabble, being in the snow, dressing how I want, and of every other little amenity that you lose in the military.

Then once I got home, I didn't dream of home anymore. I dreamt of deployment. I dreamt of the sand, friends, exercising, food, the smells, sounds of prayers, explosions, heat, confusion, orders, officers, sweat, NCO's, portajohns, peeing in bottles, soldiers, steel, contractors, and all of the other things that consume your life on a deployment.

Over time, the dreams faded. I probably didn't have a single dream of deployment for several months leading up to this fall when I got my new orders. Now the dreams returned, and occur a few times a week. Mostly pleasant, moreso than before. I'm looking forward to the nights of wonderful dreams of home I'm sure will come while I'm gone as well.